Month: October 2017
Black Cat Productions Presents: Halloween Bingo 2017: Update 12 — Bingos No. 10-13 and BLACKOUT!
My Square Markers and “Virgin” Bingo Card: “Virgin” card posted for ease of tracking and comparison. Black Kitty: Read but not called Black Vignette: Called but not read Black Kitty in Black Vignette: Read and Called Black Kitty Center Square: (Read = Called) Completed Spreadsheet: (Note: Physical print editions unless stated otherwise) […]
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Hard at work on the *mumble, mumble* tasks of the festive season!
Reblogged from: Murder by Death Themis-Athena’s Garden of Books and I are hard at work coming up with … *cough*… if we told you now it wouldn’t be as exciting, would it? But we are pretty chuffed… The season is approaching. The season for what? No matter where you live, or what […]
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Surprise, Surprise …
Excited about the idea of a holidays-themed game? So are Murder by Death and I. Before you’re getting in gear for exactly the “Twelve Tasks” you remember from last year, though … — there just might be a little surprise in the wings after all. Since MR and OB are taking a well-deserved and long […]
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Halloween Bingo 2017: Update 11 — Triple Bingo (Nos. 8, 9 and 10)
Bingo No. 8: Left column. Bingo No. 9: Bottom row. Bingo No. 10: Four corners and center square. The “bingo” squares and books read: Bingo No. 8: Bingo No. 9: Bingo No. 10: There’s a nice symmetry to the fact that the bingo call which will give me my […]
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Halloween Bingo 2017: Update 10 — “Read-Out” (Reading Blackout)
OK, so all six outstanding final bingos are riding on the three squares yet to be called, with “Classic Horror” a guaranteed multiple bingo and the other two squares potential ones. Only one of the as-yet outstanding square calls is not on my card. “Real” blackout will thus tumble in either on Oct. 29 or […]
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Sharyn McCrumb: She Walks These Hills
Hanging the Elephant (Also: Final 2017 Halloween Bingo Read) Well, I’m glad that this year’s Halloween Bingo ended on a high note for me — in terms of writing, that is, even if not topically. She Walks These Hills is one of Sharyn McCrumb’s Ballad novels, set in the Roan Mountain / Cherokee National Forest […]
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Georges Simenon: Pietre le Letton (Pietr the Latvian)
Mind Games Oh boy. This is the first of the 70+ Maigret novels that Georges Simenon published over the course of 40 years, beginning in 1931, and it’s perhaps a sign of just how far crime writing has evolved since then that this book was published (in serialized form initially) “as is”: I’m willing to […]
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Halloween Bingo 2017: Update 9 — Bingos No. 6 & 7
Bingo No. 6: Top row. Bingo No. 7: Second column to the right. The “bingo” squares and books read: Bingo No. 6: Bingo No. 7: I’ll have another bingo (all four corners and the center square) when “Classic Horror” is called, and I also have a certain incentive to finish my last […]
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Halloween Bingo 2017: Update 8 — Bingo No. 5!
Vertical, right down the middle. The “bingo” squares and books read: And now that “Country House Mystery” has been called, I actually do have an incentive to also finish my last bingo book — Sharyn McCrumb’s She Walks These Hills — fairly soonish after all, as a “Supernatural” call now will give me […]
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Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu: Carmilla
I’d never read anything by Sheridan Le Fanu, even though In a Glass Darkly — the short story collection which includes Carmilla — has been sitting on my TBR for a minor eternity … no pun intended. So when Carmilla was picked as the “Classic Horror” group read, I made a snap decision to […]
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Antonia Hodgson: The Devil in the Marshalsea
Well, if this doesn’t count for “Darkest London,” then I don’t know what will. Our narrator is tossed into the Marshalsea prison for being in debt to the tune of several months’ salary — a bit more than £20.00, which would have been a year’s salary or more to the poorer classes, but our Tom […]
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Peter May: Coffin Road
This book is billed as a stand-alone following May’s Lewis Trilogy, but that’s not actually quite correct, as the policeman from whose perspective part of the story is told (DS George Gunn) actually features in an important role in the Lewis Trilogy as well, and even the actual protagonist of that trilogy (Fin Macleod) and […]
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Gabriel García Márquez: Crónica de una muerte anunciada (Chronicle of a Death Foretold)
I read this book in Spanish and I am glad I did — based on the translation of the title alone, I don’t know how many other subletlies I might have missed if I had gone for a translated version. García Márquez’s novella deals with an honor killing, and beyond what is implied in […]
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Tannat & Tigus: Eh voilà …
… it’s here. Even though the cat could hardly be bothered! (This is the only photo I got out of him at all. After that, he decided this was too stupid for words and hoofed it under my bed.) Original post: ThemisAthena.booklikes.com/post/1608220/tannat-tigus-eh-voila
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Halloween Bingo 2017: Update 7 — Bingos No. 3 & 4!
Bingo No. 3: First column to the right. Bingo No. 4: Second row. The “bingo” squares and books read: Bingo No. 3: Bingo No. 4: I’ll have a double bingo in the wings once “Amateur Sleuth” is called, and more immediate bingos for “Classic Horror” and “Country House Mystery.” Complete […]
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Spot the Cat!
His new favorite spot — right in front of my desk, in my office. I got him this bed yesterday, and since it’s such a rousing success, I went straight back to the store today and also bought him the remaining two they had left (they were on sale) … This should hopefully go some […]
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Halloween Bingo 2017: Update 6
My Square Markers and “Virgin” Bingo Card: “Virgin” card posted for ease of tracking and comparison. Black Kitty: Read but not called Black Vignette: Called but not read Black Kitty in Black Vignette: Read and Called Black Kitty Center Square: (Read = Called) Current Status […]
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Jo Nesbø: The Snowman
I debated giving this book a 4.5 star rating for the addictive quality of Nesbø’s writing alone — but let’s face it, I don’t particularly like serial killer novels, I found few characters here with whom I could truly empathize; and between Harry Bosch, John Rebus and Kurt Wallander I’ve also reached a certain saturation […]
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C.S. Forester: The African Queen
C.S. Forester’s wartime story about a trip down a mighty African river — OK, so it’s typically billed as a blend of romance and adventure (which is doubtlessly correct), but there are also enough elements of suspense for me to feel justified to claim it as a “Romantic Suspense” read — heck, there’s even […]
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